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Posted on Sat, Feb 25, 2012 : 5:59 a.m.

4 things to watch when No. 11 Michigan basketball team hosts Purdue

By Nick Baumgardner

All good things eventually come to an end.

Saturday will mark the end of an era, sort of, for the Michigan basketball program when senior co-captains Zack Novak and Stu Douglass take the floor at the Crisler Center for one final time when the 11th-ranked Wolverines host Purdue (6 p.m., BTN).

Novak and Douglass have been a part of 53 wins in Ann Arbor, and one more would give Michigan its first unbeaten home record in 35 years.

Here are four things to watch for in tonight's game:

Purdue senior Robbie Hummel shoots a 3-pointer during his 29-point performance in an 83-65 win against Nebraska on Wednesday.

AP Photo

A red-hot Hummel

Robbie Hummel has started making up for lost time.

With Purdue scrapping to move off the bubble and into the NCAA Tournament fold, the Boilermakers' senior leader is averaging 24.8 points and 10.5 rebounds over the team's last four games.

Purdue is 3-1 in that stretch and Hummel is playing his best basketball of the season. He's scoring inside and out, and his rebounding has been tenacious.

"He's really playing well, he was rebounding like Dennis Rodman in the Nebraska game," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "He values this experience and is treasuring every moment of playing basketball."

Earlier this season in West Lafayette, Michigan limited Hummel to 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. But then, he wasn't playing with a sense of desperation.

He certainly is now, and if Michigan's not careful, Hummel may prove that he still has more than enough ability to take over a game and steal it by himself.

Burke vs. Jackson

During Michigan's two-point win in West Lafayette on Jan. 24, Purdue point guard Lewis Jackson harassed the Wolverines' freshman point guard Trey Burke for most of the evening.

The speedy Jackson pressured Burke full-court, eventually forcing him into a 3-for-10 shooting night and a six-point performance, his third-lowest output of the year.

In an effort to take pressure off Burke against, Beilein played backup guards Eso Akunne and Carlton Brundidge in the first half, and also allowed Stu Douglass to shoulder some of the ball-handing duties.